The programme, which received a record number of viewers for a BBC natural history show, ended with presenter Sir David Attenborough urging viewers to "do everything within our power to create a planet that provides a home not just for us, but for all life on Earth”.

But Hughes-Games said the BBC should commit to making more programmes about conservation, arguing: “Fantasy should be balanced by reality."

He has suggested a "conservation tax", whereby broadcasters could pledge to commit a fifth of their wildlife programming to "conservation orientated" shows.

Martin Hughes-Games, the broadcaster

He told the newspaper he was "not for one moment suggesting such shows [like Planet Earth II] should not be made".

But, he said "these programmes are still made as if this worldwide mass extinction is simply not happening.

"The producers continue to go to the rapidly shrinking parks and reserves to make their films – creating a beautiful, beguiling fantasy world, a utopia where tigers still roam free and untroubled, where the natural world exists as if man had never been.

"By fostering this lie they are lulling the huge worldwide audience into a false sense of security.

A rare snow leopard was filmed close up by the show

'If David Attenborough is still making these sorts of wonderful shows then it can’t be that bad, can it?' Yes it can, and it’s going to get much, much worse. "